Latest news with #WhentheGoingWasGood
The Spinoff
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending May 16
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) An absolute triumph. Here's a snippet from books editor Claire Mabey's review of Chidgey's latest bestseller: 'Chidgey's latest novel is uncannily similar to Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (which she has not read). It takes similar aim at British identity by puncturing its society with the normalisation of skewed medical ethics. What both novels have in common are questions of nature versus nurture and the eternal thought exercise of what does it mean to possess a soul? The two writers share an interest in the dehumanising potential of such questions. Both Ishiguro (one of the greatest novelists of all time) and Chidgey (fast becoming one of the greats herself) investigate how whole societies, entire countries, can enter a path of gross moral corruption one person, one concession, at a time.' Read the rest here. Including a yarn about the time Zuck snubbed then prime minister of New Zealand, John Key. 3 When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter (Grove Press, $40) A memoir about the golden age of print magazines. 4 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) The Huckleberry Finn retelling that has emerged as one of the great novels of this decade. 5 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Asako Yuzuki's smash hit about food, murder and seduction. 6 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) 7 Orbital by Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape, $26) Harvey is in Aotearoa as we speak! Auckland Writers Festival is underway and is set to stage a huge weekend of book talk including a headline event about Harvey's Booker Prize winning novel. 8 Unforgetting: A Memoir by Belinda Robinson (Vox Pop Productions, $40) 9 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) A superb new novel about Obi who lives in inner city Auckland of 1985 and whose life is full of challenges: a sick mum, a dreamer for a dad, dodgy adults abound. But Obi games his way through obstacle after obstacle in a breathtaking story about survival and how the best strategy is to keep living another life. 10 You Are Here by David Nicholls (Hachette, $28) A truly lovely novel about finding love late in life, about walking and the random events that can shape what you do and how you think. Funny, moving, warm. WELLINGTON 1 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) 2 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) 3 Fire & Ice Secrets: Histories, Treasures and Mysteries of Tongariro National Park by Hazel Philips (Massey University Press, $50) Absolutely riveting stories. Sample one of them – about Ruapehu's smashed summit stone – right here on The Spinoff. 4 That's What I Am: Oral Histories of Older Lesbians by Lois Cox (Townbelt Press, $35) 'That's What I Am draws on oral history interviews conducted in the late 1990s with sixteen New Zealand lesbians over the age of 50,' reads the publisher's blurb. 'It tells the women's stories through the decades, capturing memories of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, falling in love and establishing relationships. The storytellers talk of navigating identity and social stigma and forging connections in Wellington's evolving lesbian community. Together, their lives paint a vivid portrait of resilience and solidarity. This book, based on the Older Lesbians Oral History Project, is now published for the first time. A vital document for the history of lesbian communities in twentieth century New Zealand, it is a must-read for anyone interested in lesbian lives over time, feminist studies or queer history.' 5 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) 6 Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, $30) 7 Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata (Granta, $33) A stunning new novel from the author of Convenience Store Woman. Here's the blurb: 'As a girl, Amane realises with horror that her parents 'copulated' in order to bring her into the world, rather than using artificial insemination, which became the norm in the mid-twentieth century. Amane strives to get away from what she considers an indoctrination in this strange 'system' by her mother, but her infatuations with both anime characters and real people have a sexual force that is undeniable. As an adult in an appropriately sexless marriage—sex between married couples is now considered as taboo as incest—Amane and her husband Saku decide to go and live in a mysterious new town called Experiment City or Paradise-Eden, where all children are raised communally, and every person is considered a Mother to all children. Men are beginning to become pregnant using artificial wombs that sit outside of their bodies like balloons, and children are nameless, called only 'Kodomo-chan.' Is this the new world that will purify Amane of her strangeness once and for all?' 8 The Tear Bottle by Annemarie Jutel (Self published, $40) A lovely, local publication about 'the objects families covet as a way of holding on to their past. It is a graphic memoir, told by bickering sisters trying to find out the truth about something their grandmother left behind.' A majestically produced hardback that compels you to learn te reo Māori phrases to express love and other emotions with friends and family. 10 The Covid Response: A Scientist's Account of New Zealand's Pandemic and What Comes Next by Shaun Hendy (Bridget Williams Books, $40) Hendy's comprehensive breakdown of Aotearoa's Covid response: the why, the how and the what it all means.
New York Times
10-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Graydon Carter Thinks ‘Hollywood Wives' Waylaid His Magazine Career
In 'When the Going Was Good,' he traces the path from Ottawa to Oscar night. In an email interview he singled out Canadian strivers and a J.B. Priestley gem. SCOTT HELLER What books are on your night stand? A lot of mysteries and late-20th-century histories. I just finished 'Naples '44,' by Norman Lewis. I'm in the middle of Joseph O'Connor's 'The Ghosts of Rome.' Describe your ideal reading experience. Any time I'm traveling — but not while I'm driving. Planes and trains always. And just before cocktail hour at the end of the day. What's the best book you've ever received as a gift? Easy. 'Queer People,' by Carroll and Garrett Graham. Bette Midler gave it to me, and it was a complete revelation. It's about as funny and as clever as anything I've ever read. What's your favorite book no one else has heard of? That's also easy. 'Angel Pavement,' by J.B. Priestley. It's a story about Depression-era London as told through the eyes of the employees of a small company. It moved me immensely when I first read it, about 40 years ago. What's the last great book you read? I did love William Boyd's new book, 'Gabriel's Moon.' And Gay Talese's collection of journalism, 'A Town Without Time.' Both first-rate and memorable. What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet? Every Charles Dickens book aside from 'Great Expectations' and 'Bleak House.' How often do you read a book and say, 'Good, but it could have been a magazine article'? All the time! By the same token I read a lot of magazine articles and come away thinking, 'This would make a great book!' How did a founder of Spy magazine write a book that's so, well, nice? Well, that's kind of you. As it happens, so were the people at Spy. Just because the magazine was somewhat astringent in writing about the featured acts of the day, the people who produced those stories were wickedly observant but otherwise collegial and civilized. It was a dream office, really. And just so much fun. Tell a reader who doesn't travel in New York media circles why she/he should read your memoir. Aside from the fact that I still have a final child to feed and educate, and the royalties won't hurt, let me think. I do think it captures what it was like during the giddy, glamorous days of magazines for much of the past half-century. I was very fortunate to have been an editor during most of that period, and I wanted to tell younger readers what it was like, and to remind older readers of the fun they now miss. You write that 'Act One' and 'Youngblood Hawke' helped lure you to New York. What recent books might entice a younger Canadian to give the city a try? Jay McInerney's 'Bright Lights, Big City' would be a start. Although I don't think cocaine is the preferred rocket fuel that it once was. Anything by Dawn Powell. 'Just Kids,' by Patti Smith. 'The Pope of Greenwich Village,' by Vincent Patrick. And 'Harriet the Spy,' by Louise Fitzhugh. What would you say is the Great Canadian Novel? 'Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town,' by Stephen Leacock — arguably the founder of modern humor. 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,' by Mordecai Richler. And 'The Deptford Trilogy,' by Robertson Davies. Which subjects do you wish more authors would write about? Any part of New York that's not Brooklyn. Which books deserve a sequel? 'I Am Pilgrim,' 'The Bonfire of the Vanities.' Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Jeeves. Duddy Kravitz. Sammy Glick. Dean Moriarty. Your favorite antihero or villain? Inspector Javert. Roderick Spode. Lucy (from 'Peanuts'). Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book? I had a friend at Knopf when I first started out at Time in the late '70s. She got hold of the galleys of the Jackie Collins novel 'Hollywood Wives' and sent it to me. I was a bit miffed that she thought I was so lowbrow. But I gave it a chance and honestly, I simply couldn't put it down. One of my editors spotted it on my desk and just shook his head and moved on. I do believe my fortunes at the magazine began to decline from that moment on. But I read all of Jackie's books after that. Just not at the office. If you could require President Trump to read one book, what would it be? This is a trick question, obviously. And you want me to say 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' or 'Goodnight Moon' or something with a lot of images and very few words. But I'm going to rise above that. 'The Glory and the Dream,' by William Manchester. You're organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite? I can't hold it to three. P.G. Wodehouse, Edith Wharton, Nora Ephron, Christopher Hitchens, Dawn Powell and Tom Wolfe. (Nora would choose the food; Christopher would choose the Scotch.)
The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter review – juicy stories from the heydey of magazines
There are lines in When the Going Was Good, Graydon Carter's memoir of his swashbuckling career as an editor during the heyday of magazines, that will make any journalist laugh (bitterly) out loud. 'There was a bar at the end of each corridor,' writes Carter of his first job at Time magazine in the mid-1970s, where expense accounts were huge, oversight relaxed and, 'I went five years without ever turning on my oven'. At Vanity Fair, where Carter took over the editorship in 1992, 'the budget had no ceiling. I could send anybody anywhere for as long as I wanted.' For a commission on the collapse of Lloyd's of London, one Vanity Fair hack ran up expenses of $180,000 – and the piece didn't run. These are the details most readers will come for and Carter, who at 75 remains a symbol of magazine glamour and excess – a fact somehow vested in the whimsy and extravagance of his comic-book hair – doesn't short-change us. His years at Vanity Fair entailed as much sucking up to the worlds of Hollywood and fashion as it did publishing great journalism, and this book reminds us that, like all hacks, he is a gossip at heart; casting an eye back on his life, he can't help but dish the dirt. And thank goodness for that. At the front end of the memoir are some lovely, funny passages about his boyhood in Ottawa and Carter's early jobs as a manual labourer and on a doomed student magazine. (It remains a curiosity that, unlike some of his fancy English peers at Condé Nast, his roots are modest and suburban, and his fascination with class feels connected to that.) But let's cut to the chase: what did he really think of Anna Wintour? The Vogue editor is, writes Carter, someone who 'tends to greet me either like her long lost friend or like the car attendant', a woman of such awesome bad manners that, he recalls, she would demand the cheque at a restaurant the minute she finished her food even if her dining companions were still eating. Pioneering magazine editor Clay Felker? A snake. Legendary newspaperman Harry Evans? Also a snake. Like all good memoirs, When the Going Was Good includes a disastrous encounter with Princess Margaret. And there are long, satisfying sections on, for example, the extraordinarily bad behaviour of Hollywood stars trying to crash the Vanity Fair Oscars party. Meanwhile, Carter is so affable, so genial, so disarmingly honest about his own shortcomings – he refers to himself as 'a beta male', who hates negotiating and has to fight 'inherent laziness' – you hardly notice the knife going in. Some of the book's best material derives from the years between Carter quitting his dead-end reporting job at Time and joining Vanity Fair. This was when he and Kurt Andersen set up Spy magazine and, as he puts it, undertook a campaign of 'carpet bombing at 25,000 feet' the great and the good of New York. Incredibly, the pair's description of Donald Trump as a 'short-fingered vulgarian' still stands, a testament to the power of the precisely judged insult. There are other delicious moments, including the time they referred to Jill Krementz, the wife of Kurt Vonnegut, as 'a champion namedropper'. Carter writes: 'Vonnegut called me in a fury. He said that his wife did not namedrop – she simply had a lot of famous friends and liked to talk about them. 'Let me leave you with this,' Vonnegut said, ending the call, 'If you don't already have cancer, I hope you get it.'' Carter himself isn't above namedropping, of course, and he retains some tics from Vanity Fair's more Tatler‑ish side. If a person went to Harvard (a 'Harvard alum', in Carter's clubby language), you can bet you will hear about it. Someone is 'the Boswell of England's Eton-Oxbridge set', while someone else was 'then married to one of the lower-ranking members of the Tisch family'. A greater irritation is the book's occasional vibe of old lags reliving their glory days. With yet another account of an overindulged male hack running up a huge hotel bill and skipping off without filing the piece, the larkish tone starts to wear thin. In the late 1990s, Christopher Hitchens staggered, tramp-like, into the Vanity Fair office and Carter sent him to the fashion closet to be refurbished right down to his undies. Yes, the magazine promoted plenty of women, but you have to wonder whether, if Marie Brenner, another star who broke story after story, walked in looking as if she had slept under a bridge, would the editor-in-chief have found it quite so endearing? Then there are the antics of Dominick Dunne, the star crime and society writer of the 1990s, who, despite being 'on his way to earning half a million dollars a year', writes Carter, 'wasn't always easy to get copy out of'. (Dunne would check into the Chateau Marmont hotel for weeks at a time, and his editor, Wayne Lawson, would have to fly to LA from New York to hold his hand and effectively talk the piece out of him.) The rivalry between Dunne, his brother John Gregory, and John's wife, Joan Didion, meanwhile, was venomous, decades long, and is related in exquisite detail. I couldn't get enough of this stuff: anecdotes about the subjects of Vanity Fair's fawning profiles who flew into a rage because of a single perceived insult. For the super-agent Sue Mengers, it was the writer calling her house 'modest'. For Tom Wolfe, it was use of the word 'spry'. One journalist would turn in 70,000-word 'vomit drafts' and expect the editors to whittle them down. And then there was the amazing amount of theft that took place at the Vanity Fair Oscar parties. 'I remember catching Adrien Brody trying to smuggle out one of our electrified candle lamps on the tables,' writes Carter. 'I said, 'Adrien, you can't do that. We had the shades all made up especially.' He's a gentleman, and a charming one at that, and still apologises any time I see him.' Some gentleman. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion Behind all the nonsense and the glamour, it's easy to forget that Carter was a truly great editor, a natural risktaker and ideas guy, who commissioned Monica Lewinsky to write about her experiences, tracked down the true identity of Deep Throat, and before the world changed and the money ran out, honoured a principle that imbues this joyful memoir: 'A journalist's life in those days [was] just plain fun.' When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines by Graydon Carter is published by Grove (£20). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy for £18 at Delivery charges may apply.
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Known Limits Politicians. Google & Facebook Don't Have That Luxury
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 28: Senator Mike Lee speaks during #JusticReformNow Capitol Hill Advocacy ... More Day at Russell Senate Office Building on April 28, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by) Sen. Mike Lee is looking into the past to the peril of American businesses. As he attacks Google and Facebook's perceived dominance in the AdTech sector with his America Act, Lee reminds us that politicians are invariably constrained by the known. To understand the danger of Lee's legislation, stop and consider author and writer Bryan Burrough. He recalls earning in the six figures per article written for Vanity Fair from 1992-2017, 'a halcyon era for magazines.' Time was that magazines could sell hundreds of pages of expensive ads to business brands more than eager to reach acquisitive magazine customers. Vanity Fair not only offered 'eyeballs,' but well-to-do ones. Burrough was paid a half million per year because editor Graydon Carter was paid millions per year, while the brands that bought ads in Vanity Fair earned even more in sales to and visibility with readers of means. Which explains the title of Carter's new memoir: When the Going Was Good is a look back to how things were in the once booming magazine business. Expensive ads formerly paid for enormous amounts of entertaining and informative writing by people like Burrough. Only for things to change quickly. See Carter's title. In business it's always this way. Profits are invariably competed away. In the words of Jeff Bezos, 'your margin is my opportunity.' An internet that Bezos was so instrumental in mainstreaming proved the competitor and margin-crusher for magazines. As Dana Brown (a longtime employee of Carter) explained it in his own memoir, Dilettante, while Facebook was 'able to target advertising at very specific demographics and then show advertisers actual figures of who saw the ad, who clicked on it, and who made the purchase,' those in magazines who were not 'data people' could sell a magazine ad for $100,000, talk up the demographics of the readership, but not much more. Well, there you go. In a very short time, the ad landscape was turned on its head, and in the process magazines wholly reliant on the sale of expensive ads shrank in terms of page count and relevance. In commerce, the present is always the past. Google, Facebook, and others invented a future of advertising that few, including magazine editors, saw. The above truth is crucial, and it's seemingly what Sen. Lee is missing. Much like the magazine executives, editors and writers from a gold-plated past, Lee imagines that the ad market of today will resemble that of tomorrow, a year from now, and ten years from now. Lee's 'Big Tech' targets can't be so shortsighted. They don't have the luxury to be so shortsighted. Paraphrasing a popular quip about relationships, how you're rendered irrelevant is how you rendered past competition irrelevant. Google, Facebook and other technology giants of today are being attacked by Lee for having had the temerity to discover an advertising future that few saw. Instead, of making them the enemy, Lee should be celebrating these tech giants for having had such foresight. Just the same, Lee should recognize as Facebook and Google do that tomorrow in business is something else altogether, particularly as China's greatest technological minds get to work themselves on competing away margins. Instead of legislating against the U.S.'s greatest businesses, Lee and other members of the U.S. political class should be removing barriers to their ability to innovate, and in the process freeing them to find a future of advertising that history says will not resemble the present. It's a reminder that with Lee's America Act, he's staring into the past while blinding American competitors going to great lengths to see the future.
Washington Post
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Graydon Carter dishes about his glory days at Spy and Vanity Fair
Yes, of course there's tea — or dish, as the old folks say. This is Graydon, after all. Deep, deep dish. Kurt Vonnegut commanding a foe to get cancer. An apoplectic John Gregory Dunne ranting about actresses 'dressed like sluts.' Magazine magnate Si Newhouse being good in bed. Waltzing, stumbling, dining, wining and twerking through 'When the Going Was Good,' Graydon Carter's memoir of his editorial glory days astride the New York Observer, Spy and Vanity Fair, are witty people doing anecdotal things. Vonnegut once told Carter that his wife didn't drop names; she merely 'had a lot of famous friends and liked to talk about them.' The same is voluptuously true of Carter, and you'll like the book largely to the degree that name-dropping doesn't bug you. In any case, each of the friends comes fitted with a mononym — Tina, Barry, Nora, Fran, Hitch — that readers will either not recognize or recognize so profoundly that they'll refuse to accept that these are no longer boldface names.
